Scoppe column: No Olympic wrestling - what a joke

By Rick Scoppe-Sports Editor/The Daily News

Published: Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 11:00 AM.

Why?

An IOC spokesman says it’s all about the “process of renewing and renovating” the Olympics. Really? Renewing and renovating. Sounds like something the Property Brothers do to homes on the Home & Garden Television.

A lot of things bother me about the decision, not the least of which is it’s just another hit to a sport that’s seen its share of bazooka blows in recent years. Fewer colleges are sponsoring the sport, which still remains the sixth most popular high school sport, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

And to think the news comes just as
North Carolina
is in the midst of the dual team championships, which is a prelude to the individual championships.

One of the things that bother me the most about the unfathomable decision, however, is that wrestling is one of the most egalitarian of sports. You don’t have to be 6-foot-6 to wrestle. You don’t have to weight 285 pounds and bench press a side of beef.

You can be just a few gold medals over 100 pounds and wrestle. I mean, what a great sport. Just you and your opponent, doing everything you can to put the other guy’s shoulder to the mat to say for that moment in time you were the better man.

And your equipment plays no part in whether you win or lose because your equipment is minimal. It’s just and your singlet and an elbow or knee pad.

Wow, what a travesty, what an idiotic move by the powers that be in the Olympics. Let’s do away with a sport that historically has always been linked with the Olympics since they wrestled barefoot and, well, with fewer clothes on than a Victoria’s Secret model.

Heck, there are records that indicate the sport was introduced in the 18th Olympiad way back in, well, 708 BC. The sport was also part of the first modern-day Olympics in 1896.

And now comes word that the International Olympic Committee has voted to drop the sport. You know the IOC, right — Idiots on Call?

The IOC was expected to drop modern (as opposed to, let’s say, ancient) pentathlon, you know the sport that millions take part in from middle school to college and beyond across the world and which is open to everyone with a gun and a horse and so on and so forth.

Quick now, name one event in modern pentathlon. Look, I’m not opposed to modern pentathlon remaining in the Olympics. It has a long history of being in it as well. I just think it’s a joke that wrestling is out after the IOC executive board recommended in a secret vote that reeks of politics that wrestling not be among the Olympic’s 25 “core” sports for the 2020 Summer Games.

Why?

An IOC spokesman says it’s all about the “process of renewing and renovating” the Olympics. Really? Renewing and renovating. Sounds like something the Property Brothers do to homes on the Home & Garden Television.

A lot of things bother me about the decision, not the least of which is it’s just another hit to a sport that’s seen its share of bazooka blows in recent years. Fewer colleges are sponsoring the sport, which still remains the sixth most popular high school sport, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

And to think the news comes just as North Carolina is in the midst of the dual team championships, which is a prelude to the individual championships.

One of the things that bother me the most about the unfathomable decision, however, is that wrestling is one of the most egalitarian of sports. You don’t have to be 6-foot-6 to wrestle. You don’t have to weight 285 pounds and bench press a side of beef.

You can be just a few gold medals over 100 pounds and wrestle. I mean, what a great sport. Just you and your opponent, doing everything you can to put the other guy’s shoulder to the mat to say for that moment in time you were the better man.

And your equipment plays no part in whether you win or lose because your equipment is minimal. It’s just and your singlet and an elbow or knee pad.

Beyond that, the wrestlers who make the Olympics are the greatest in their sport. Can you say that about other sports, especially team sports?

Hardly.

I also fear the trickle-down effect of the decision. Do wrestlers at CroatanHigh School dream of the Olympics? Some may, although right now they’re focused on the here and now of winning the state 2-A dual team championships and then individual regionals and state championships.

But higher up the wrestling food chain you wonder what impact this decision will have.

Those associated with the sport quickly voiced their outrage at what a former Olympian called “the death penalty out of nowhere.”

I particularly liked the comment by Rulon Gardner, whose stunning upset of Russian wrestling great Alexander Karelin in 2000 is one of the most memorable Olympic moments in recent years. Gardner told The Associated Press:

“It just seems like wrestling, if we don’t fight we’re going to die. At this point, it’s time for everybody to man up and support the program.”

And remember this: wrestlers don’t give up.

Sports editor Rick Scoppe can be contacted via email at rick.scoppe@jdnews.com or by calling 910-219-8471.